The twenty sixth death anniversary of
Late Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam Q.C. falls on 09th February 2003.

He inaugurated the All Ceylon Tamil Congress on 29th August 1944 to safeguard and look
after the interests of Tamil speaking people in the whole of Sri Lanka.

After the late Mr. Bandaranaike started the Sinhala Maha Sabha he had no other
alternative but to start the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. All Ceylon Tamil Congress is the
oldest Tamil party in Sri Lanka and it has three representatives in Parliament now
including Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, grandson of Late Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam Q.C.

His illustrious son Gaasinather Gangaser Ponnambalam also known as "KUMAR"
who was killed on 5th January 2000 inherited his fathers inborn Tamil pride and
indomitable fighting spirit and carried it to its ultimate limits. Though he was not a
Member of Parliament yet he was a mighty one man opposition to the Government of the day.
He was honoured posthumously as "Maamanithan" by Vellupillai Prabhakaran
representing the vanguard of Tamil nationalism today.

G. G. Ponnambalam Q.C. entered Parliament in early 1930s and he has been the
spokesman in and out of Parliament for Sri Lankan Tamils including Indian Tamils from 1930
onwards. He foresaw what was in store for the Sri Lankan Tamil speaking minorities and
made representations to the Soulbury Commissioners in 1945 for balanced representation.

Late Prof. Jayaratnam Wilson in his book called "Sri Lankan Nationalism" has
described the late Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam in the following manner:

"... This enormous void left by the (Ramanathan and Arunachalam) brothers had to
be filled and G. G. Ponnambalam did so. He evolved his political credo not from them, but
from Sir William Mannings warning of the need for non-domination. The outcome was
balanced representation, known as the "Fifty-Fifty" formula... there was no
doubt that he was shaping the all  Sinhalese Ministry of 1936, which he
characterized as the homogenous Board of Sinhalese - speaking Ministers  much to the
embarrassment of the latter."

Late Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam in his marathon speech regarding balanced representation in
the State Council in 1939 has stated:

"And what is the position of the Tamil community? I want to repeat that our
position is this. We are inhabitants of this country. We have lived here and a branch of
the Tamil community has lived here possibly longer than our brethren the Sinhalese. This
is our home. We have as much right to claim to have permanent and vested interests in this
country politically and otherwise as the Sinhalese people. We do not propose to be treated
as undesirable aliens. We do not and will not tolerate being segregated in ghettos and
treated like Semites in the Nazi States of Central Europe."

Had the principle of balanced representation been accepted by the Soulbury
Commissioners subsequent pogroms of 1956, 1958, 1977 and 1983 could have been avoided and
the obnoxious Sinhala only Act which made Tamils second class citizens and humiliated them
would not have been passed in the Parliament.

It is only by giving balanced representation you can prevent a racial majority
trampling upon the rights of the minorities in a democratic country. This principle of
balanced representation prevails in the United States of America in the selection of
Senators.

The All Ceylon Tamil Congress fought the 1947 General Election before Ceylon got its
independence and made it clear in the election manifesto that it would extend responsive
co-operation to whichever government that may be formed after General Election which would
support the fundamental policies of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. At the General Election
held in 1947 the U.N.P did not get an absolute majority it got only 42 seats. At that time
all the parties opposed to the U.N.P. organized a Conference at the House of Late Sri
Nissanka in Colombo known as "Yamuna Conference" to explore the possibilities of
forming an alternative Government opposed to the U.N.P. and this conference was presided
over by Late Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam. As there was disunity among the leftists, this
conference could not achieve anything useful. Late Mr. Pieter Keuneman some years ago in
an article which was published in the Saturday Review commented to the effect that had
there been unity among the leftists forces at the Yamuna Conference, the history of the
Sri Lanka would have been different.

His political opponents carried on a persistent campaign of vilification and character
assassination against him stating he was responsible for the disfranchisement of several
Indian Tamils in 1948. This is absolutely incorrect. The act which disfranchised the
Tamils of Indian origin was the Ceylon Citizenship Act No. 18 of 1948 and the All Ceylon
Tamil Congress and its leader Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam vehemently opposed this act and voted
against it. When this Act was passed Mr. Ponnambalam was in the opposition. Later when the
Tamil Congress decided to give responsive co-operation to the U.N.P. Government it did so
only after getting an undertaking from the late Mr. D. S. Senanayake that he would consult
the then Indian Prime Minister late Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru and bring a bill in Parliament to
give citizenship rights to those who were deprived of their citizenship by the earlier
Citizenship Act.

The subsequent piece of legislation known as the Indian and Pakistani Residents
Citizenship Act which was passed in Parliament was the outcome of the under-taking given
by the late Mr. D. S. Senanayake to the late Mr. Ponnambalam. Mr. Ponnambalam only
supported this legislation which gave citizenship rights to Indian citizens.

From 1930 onwards it was the late Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam who fought for the rights of
the Indians and safeguarded their self respect. When the Sir Jackson Commission was
appointed when Govindan was shot dead at the famous Mooloya estate incident and when
Nefsumoyar estate was taken over it was G. G. Ponnambalam who spoke on behalf of the
Indian Tamils and fought for their rights. Out of three days allotted to the Tamil
Congress by the Soulbury Commission late Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam set apart one full day to
represent matters relating to the rights of the Indian Tamils before the Soulbury
Commission and as a result the Soulbury Commission recommended that 14% of the seats in
Parliament be reserved for the Indian citizens.

The separatist cry was not the brain-child of either Prabhakaran or that of the
T.U.L.F. leaders who opted for separation at the 1970 Vaddukoddai Conference. It was late
Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike who laid the foundation stone for the Tamil separatist cry in
this country by introducing the obnoxious Sinhala only Act in Parliament in 1956. Our
leader the late Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam spoke against it and warned the government and the
Sinhala people that Sinhala only Act would lead to a parting of ways. He was the first
person to warn that if Tamils were not treated equally they would have no other
alternative but to ask for separation and the pogroms of 1958, 1977 and 1983 which
destroyed several thousand Tamils made the young Tamils to arm themselves to defend
themselves and the Tamil community.

In 1965-66 Premier Dudley Senanayakes U.N.P. Government had G. G. Ponnambalam,
Q.C. agreeing to lead its delegation to the United Nations. The August assembly was so
spellbound by his oration that the US delegate, Ms. Frances Willis, rushed over to him,
shook his hands and exclaimed "If that is the voice. of an underdeveloped nation, we
would all like to be underdeveloped."

G. G. Ponnambalam Q.C. at the Sarkaria Commission

1976 January 30, saw the dismissal of Kalaignar Karunanidhis Tamil Nadu
Government by the Central Government of Indira Gandhi under charges of alleged corruption,
and Justice Sarkaria, a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court of India was appointed as a
One-Man commission to head an inquiry. At Karunanidhis request G. G. Ponnambalam
whose legal skills were legendary appeared before the Commission. After dwelling at length
on the double standards adopted by Delhi in its centre  state relationship (with
reference to Punjab and Tamil Nadu) he challenged the Judge to allow him to cross-examine
every witness who was going to testify and prove them liars. This demand was turned down
promptly by the Judge.

With devastating legal arguments G. G. went to expose the nature and operating
procedures of the Kangaroo Court that was meant to do a fix-up job after Indira Gandhi had
made up her mind to wreak political vengeance on Karunanidhi.

He then led his top team of Tamil Nadu lawyers on a walk-out and continued to boycott
the hearings. It was legal hara-kiri for the Commission thereafter and Karunanidhi won his
day. G. G. refused to accept even a red cent as payment from Karunanidhi by way of fees or
travel expenses and even insisted on paying for his accommodation.

Later at a great thanksgiving rally hosted by Karunanidhi at Seerani Arrangam at the
Marina Beach, he declared that the high moral standards set for true friendship in Sangam
Tamil Literature had been totally rewritten by G. G. Ponnambalam.

He also defended at the Trial-at-Bar the late Mr. Appapillai Amirthalingam and three
other Members of Parliament and got them released, and it was thereafter Mr. Amirthalingam
became the Leader of opposition in Parliament.

He was also an efficient criminal lawyer and appeared in several famous criminal cases.
In the Ranjani Taxi Cab case he cross-examined the finger print expert who came from
United Kingdom and after his cross-examination of the expert witness the law of finger
prints was altered.

The entire Tamil community is really indebted to the late G. G. Ponnambalam for the
part he played in politics for nearly half a century.Appathuray Vinayagamoorthy
Member of Parliament
President  All Ceylon Tamil Congress